


Lose Your Mind

by firefrog



Category: Cats - Andrew Lloyd Webber, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - T. S. Eliot
Genre: Australian spelling, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-02
Updated: 2017-04-02
Packaged: 2018-10-14 01:15:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10525836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firefrog/pseuds/firefrog
Summary: A young Mister Mistoffelees comes across a tragedy and wonders if he used his magic properly to deal with the situation. Sad introspection.Stand alone, but may add to it later.





	

Mister Mistoffelees leapt from rooftop to rooftop, looking for a certain type of moss that commonly grew in drainpipes. He had been searching all night and was just about to call it a day when there came a crunch and a terrible cry from below – the shrill wail of a cat in pain.

Looking down Mistoffelees beheld the scene of a tragedy. A small caramel tabby kitten had been playing on the edge of the road and a horse had kicked out, sending its small body flying. 

Quickly Mistoffelees made his way to the kitten, having to step through a spreading pool of blood to reach it. Nobody else on the street was paying attention as Mistoffelees knelt by the young ones side.

He could plainly see that the back of the kittens head had been crushed, its skull gaped open showing the delicate pinky grey mass within. The kitten whimpered, trying frantically to get up and run away from the pain. Mistoffelees heart wrenched, the kittens tear streaked face contorted as it began to howl for its mother. 

But whoever she was, she was too far away to hear. Only Mistoffelees was there to bear witness, only he could help the little one through the last minutes of this life.

Laying a gentle paw on the kitten’s blood smeared forehead he used his magic to enchant the kitten, taking away its pain. The little body relaxed and the kitten blinked its misty blue eyes at him.

“Hi, my names Mistoffelees, what’s yours?” he asked the kit.

“Florian. I’m scared, can you get my mummy?” the kitten pleaded, but Misto knew there wasn’t time, the kitten had released control of its bowels and already the spark of life was fading.

“How about I sing you a song?” he asked instead, using more of his magic to calm the little ones panic. Florian nodded and Mistoffelees began to sing a lullaby that was common to the kittens in this area of London.

“Hush kitten, mummy’s coming, fresh kill in her mouth,  
She will feed you, she will kiss you, she’ll give you a bath.  
Come the evening she will be there ….”

Mistoffelees stopped singing, the light had gone from Florian’s eyes for good and he couldn’t hear the song anymore. The magical cat closed the kitten’s eyes and stood. He sadly walked away, the kitten’s blood still sticky on his knees and paws, but he couldn’t make himself stop to clean it off.

He went to the nearest cat patrolling the area and told them of Florian’s fate, knowing word would quickly spread to his mother. Then the young tuxedo headed home to the small alleyway that he called his own. 

The cobbled bit of roadway wasn’t a big territory, but he knew every corner and crevice. With a tired sigh he leapt onto the rim of a water barrel under a downpipe and used the water in it to wash away the stiffened blood.

He had always wondered if the ability to use mind control had a good purpose. He had seen Macavity use it on his enemy’s, and to make his hench cats do things they might not otherwise have done. And Old Deuteronomy used a form of it to direct the dancing sometimes at the Balls.

All cats used it a little to get humans to do their bidding from time to time, but generally Mistoffelees had felt it was a dangerous gift to have. Being able to control other cat’s minds was a temptation to do wrong, as Macavity showed again and again.

But he hoped he had just used it for good. Soothing Florian’s passing like that, surely it had been the right thing to do? Wasn't it?

Mistoffelees chewed worriedly on his tail tip. It had felt like the right thing to do, but was it the start of a slippery slope? What would he be tempted to do next, take away Demeter’s pain? Would that be the right thing to do – would Demeter even want to give it up, she seemed to need it, and her anger, to keep on going.

Sometimes Mistoffelees found his gifts a curse. He had so many options for helping others, but often the best thing he could do was to do nothing at all.


End file.
